Pin Trading at Walt Disney World, Florida During Covid

My kids have really gotten into pin trading over the last 10 years and, consequently, so have I. Although we normally visit Disneyland every year, with the uncertainty surrounding Covid restrictions in the area, we decided to book our trip to Walt Disney World this summer. I was excited because in January of 2020, just before Covid became a phenomenom, I was in Orlando for a business trip and would take side trips everynight to Disney Springs and even spent a day at Epcot. I was amazed at the number of cast members with lanyards on and pins to trade - particularly in the World of Disney Store in Disney Springs. It was a pin traders dream! I knew things would be different this trip with cast members not yet allowed to trade pins, but I was still excited for my kids to have the Walt Disney World Pin Trading experience. 

 Because there is no trading directly with cast members as of yet, pin boards with pins on them are placed generally in each "Land" of each park. Here are a couple of examples of the pin boards:

Rules

I won't spend a lot of time on the rules on pin trading here, assuming that if you are reading this, you have probably traded pins before.

Rule 1 - when you get to the board, each guest is allowed to trade a maximum of 2 pins. This is an important rule because sometimes long lines can form and it is important to be mindful of guests aiting behind you. Rule 2 is that you can't trade a pin that is already on the board, thus creating a duplicate on the pin board. Having a variety of pins makes pin trading more fun anyway. 

Locations

We went to Animal Kingdom our first day and Epcot our second day and unfortunately, I didn't create any sort of a list of places that the pin boards were at these places. I do remmeber there being a pin board at the Canada Pavillion at the World Showcase because we checked it before and after seeing the Canada Far and Wide film and the cast member slightly repremanded us for returning to trade pins at that location so soon. There is also a pin board once through the entrance just infront of the shop on the right hand side.

I got a little smarter at Hollywood Studios and took this picture, detailing where the pin trading locations are:

And again at the Magic Kingdom, I took these pictures:

And I obtained this pre-marked park map with pin locations from a cast member as well:

So as of July 2021, these were the pin trading locations at Walt Disney World. Hope this helps you find all the pins you're looking for! 

Abby's Annaheimer Inn

 

My wife, daughter, and I travelled to Anaheim to visit the Disneyland Resort one last time before California Adventure was closed to shopping due to A Touch of Disney coming to the park. I searched the internet to try to find a motel that was in walking distance and inexpensive. We typically stay on Harbor Blvd when visiting Disneyland, but this time I found a motel on the entire other (West) side of the property, located on the corner of Katella and Walnut Streets, Abby's Anaheimer Inn. 

When we pulled in the parking lot, I immediately wasn't impressed. The asphalt was run down and it looked more like an apartment complex than a motel. My wife was sincerely concerned for our safety and tried to convince me to just go somewhere else to stay. I considered it but thought I'd give it a try.

The person who checked us in was friendly and informed me that there were a few people who had been living there for 3 or 4 months but assured me they wouldn't bother me. We got to our room and noticed that it didn't have a shower curtain so I went back down stairs and informed the man who had checked us in. After spending a few hours at Downtown Disney, we came back to our room to notice that our shower curtain still hadn't been replaced. 

We decided to drive somewhere to get dinner and when we got back, we noticed someone going into and leaving our room. We hoped that it was the people replacing our shower curtain and when we got to our room, we were relieved to discover that our shower curtain had been replaced. 

One other thing I'll mention is that when I checked in I was told that if we needed anything there would be someone in the office 24x7 but out of the 3 times I checked downstairs, only once was someone there. 

In the defense of Abby's Annaheimer Inn, I imagine that with Disneyland being forced to be closed much longer than they should have been, the owners of the motel had to do something to pay the bills, including opening it up to people looking for cheap housing. I imagine (and hope) that once Disneyland is allowed to open to out-of-town guests, this motel will be a much more inviting place to stay.

The walk to Downtown Disney took us about 15 minutes. We took the route up Walnut, over Magic Way, down Disneyland Drive, though the Paradise Pier parking lot, and then back north again to the security check point on the west side of Downtown Disney. 

As far as the condition of the room, the walls had received a new coat of paint which looked very nice. The carpet was extremely dirty, and as was mentioned above, originally we had no shower curtain. Here are some pictures of the room:

Here's a look at the motel and parking lot. The biggest potholes in the parking lot were closest to the office, near the right side of the building in this picture.

Here's a look at the outside of our room on the second floor. 

This is the inside of the room when you first enter.

I generally like hard beds better than soft beds but these beds were extremely hard - even a bit hard for me!

There was a small tv and dresser opposite the beds along with a desk and chair.

Here's a look at the bathroom sink area. There was a small refrigerator, a few hangers, and a nice marble sink. 

And this is the bathroom.

I'd like to say that I'll give this another try after things get back to normal in California after the Coronavirus, but I think this is a "one and done" experience for me.

: 

Motel 6 Anaheim Maingate

 With the Disneyland Resort still closed due to the Coronavirus, we decided to take a trip to Anaheim to enjoy the atmosphere of Downtown Disney and portions of California Adventure that have been opened for shopping and dining. I was surprised that most of the normal Harbor Blvd hotels that we stay in were still so expensive even with the park closures. I decided to look a little further away to see if I could find something slightly less expensive and I was pleased to find the Motel 6.

The Motel 6 Anaheim Main gate is located on Disney Way, just about a mile walk from Disneyland. The walk is actually very pleasant and takes you by the Anaheim Garden Walk on the south side of Disney Way and the employee cast member parking lot on the North side. For those of you unfamiliar with Disney Way, it is located to the East of Disneyland and intersects Harbor Blvd right at the Guardians of the Galaxy Attraction in California Adventure. It took my wife, daughter (who is 7 years old), and I 17 minutes to walk to the security checkpoint from our room. 

The rooms were perfect for our family. The only odd thing about them was the layout - the bathroom area was separated from the main sleeping area by two swinging doors that only gave limited privacy. But the front desk staff was incredibly friendly and we were pleased to see that they had a pin board for trading pins despite all the overly-stringent restrictions on the Disney property. 

Below are some pictures of the Motel 6 and our room:

Here's a look from the sidewalk on Disney Way right by the driveway into the hotel.

This is the backside of the hotel where we parked.

Our room was on the second floor. There were three floors total.

We stayed in a 2 queen room. The two swinging doors you see are the only things separating the sleeping area from the bathroom. (There is no door separating the sink area from the shower/toilet area).

This was a pretty cool sitting area.

Here's a look from the bathroom towards the entrance door.

The tv and the only dresser in the room.

This is the sink area. There is a ironing board, hangars, and shelf to the left, and the tub and toilet area is to the right.

Here's a look at the area to the left of the sink.

Here's a look to the right, including the tub/shower.

This was the only shampoo supplied by the hotel. One packet was barely enough for me, a short haired male. So you might want to consider bringing your own shampoo to ensure you have enough.

The Sounds of Disneyland: Mickey Mouse March from the Disneyland Resort Esplanade Area Loop.

 I love the music played in the Disneyland Resort Area from the Esplanade to the various loops in each Land. While enjoying a walk around Downtown Disney and California Adventure (while the parks were closed), I was able to record the Mickey Mouse March from the Esplanade Area Loop. Enjoy!

Disneyland True Short Stories: "I'm Going to Disneyland!"

 If you're as old as I am, you'll remember the famous sports stars of the moment exclaiming, "I'm going to Disneyland!" after winning the Super Bowl or World Series. That ingenious marketing idea was started in 1987 by then Disney CEO, Michael Eisner. But did you ever wonder where that idea came from? Ok, probably not, but it's a fun story. 

After completing the first ever flight around the world without stopping or refueling, Jeannie Yeager and Burt Rutan had dinner with Michael and Jane Eisner, his wife. 

At the dinner, Michael asked the aviators "What are you doing next?" To which they replied, "We're going to Disneyland." And with that, Jane turned to Michael and said, "Michael, you've got to use that."

And so it was that the next year (1987) Eisner started that marketing campaign.  

Downtown Disney During Coronavirus Restrictions October 2020

I needed to run down to Southern California to pick up a couple of Disney props I obtained from an auction so I figured we'd see what Downtown Disney was like with all the Coronavirus restrictions:

We used this coupon found on Micechat to park at the Anaheim Hotel. I had read that parking in the main Disney parking lot on the West side of the park sometimes meant waiting in line for upwards of 30 minutes at the security checkpoint so we decided to park on the East side of the Park so we could use the East side entrance.

It was truly bizarre to see this pick up/drop off location completely void of vehicles and people. Normally when we come during the summer this sidewalk can be like navigating your way through a maze.

The first of MANY covid related signs...

...and another...

...and another...

...and many more. If I didn't know better, I would have thought this virus had a 99.9% death rate, not survival rate.

There was not another single person entering or leaving on the East side (makes sense since all the hotels are basically shuttered, waiting for Disneyland to be able to open again). 

First, we had a temperature screening... 

...and then went through security. 

No wait!! I doubt we'll see this ever again once things get back to normal.

I was most excited about seeing the new Disneyland Backlot Premiere Shop which had just opened a couple of weeks before we were there.

Here's the entrance which is just on the California Adventure side (South) of the East security checkpoint.

Entering the (normally) back stage area of DCA! 

This was so cool to me to see backstage - probably even cooler than going in the new store!

And here's where you enter the store. Not the grandest of entrances, but still, it was nice to see Disney doing everything they could to get more people back to work by opening this store despite all the restrictions being placed on them.

My first look inside the store...

The merchandise isn't unique to this store but it was nice to have another area to shop to help disperse the crowds.

Here's a look at where you checkout. The switchbacks were not needed this day.

Now off to the esplanade!

I was kindly, but firmly reprimanded after taking this photo by one of the cast members because I took off my mask. I understand why she had to do it but, as you can see, there wasn't another person within 50 yards of me. A little common sense goes a long way in times like these...

Here's a look toward Disneyland from the esplanade. Anyone that's been to Disneyland in the past 10 years knows how eerie this is - not a single person in the whole view of the camera! 

This was as close as I was allowed to get to Disneyland. It was roped off at this point.

Here's a look back toward California Adventure.

I was able to go right up to the exit at DCA. Here's a look inside. This area actually opened for shopping and dining in November (although the dining has now been banned in the area by California so only food pick-up is currently available as of December).

Although there were lines to get into each store (Disneyland has been forced to implement operational capacity restrictions at it's retail locations), the lines weren't too long and we only waited for about 5-10 minutes to get into the few stores we went to. It was actually nice to be able to pleasantly walk through the World of Disney Store without feeling like a packed sardine! Here's a look at the line to
Pin Traders.  

It was a short, but fun visit that will have to hold us over until Disneyland is allowed to open next year.

Disneyland True Short Stories: Wally Boag and the Golden Horseshoe Review

Wally Boag opened the Golden Horseshoe Review on July 17, 1955 - Disneyland's opening day. Actually, his first performance at the Golden Horseshoe was 2 days before that for Walt's Wedding Anniversary.  His amazing career at Disneyland spanned 27 years in which he did 5 performances a day.

Wally was also know for his creativity and being able to ad-lib when needed. On one occasion when Wally's second 5 year contract was up, Walt was in his box (stage left, up stairs) with the Indian Chief and some of the Indians from the Indian Village taking in a show.


In Wally's words:

"I had saved my 'hair gag' so that I could say, 'All right...put down your hatchet...I'll save you the trouble.' I threw my hair down there in front of them...and Walt just fell apart, laughing so hard. After the show was over, I went over and talked to him and he said, 'By the way, you're up for a new contract...don't forget to ask for more money!' You know, that was great."